President Trump Proposes Cutting Funding for Office of National Drug Policy Control by 95%

The Office of National Drug Policy Control (ONDCP) would be all but eliminated under a proposal put forth by the Trump Administration.

According to an Office of Management and Budget document obtained by The New York Times, “the White House is proposing to slash the drug policy office budget about 95 percent, to just $24 million from $388 million. The cuts would mean the office could lose up to 33 employees.”

The 2018 budget would also eliminate grant programs administered by the drug control office. Those include “the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program and the Drug-Free Communities Support Program, which, according to the document, the Trump administration thinks are duplicative with other federal and state programs.”

“These drastic proposed cuts are frankly heartbreaking and, if carried out, would cause us to lose many good people who contribute greatly to O.N.D.C.P.’s mission and core activities,” said acting Drug Czar Rich Baum. “I don’t want to see this happen.”

Although this is clearly intriguing news, as John Czwartacki, a spokesman for the Office of Management and Budget, points out; “The FY 18 budget is still under review and is not by any means a finalized document.”

Anthony Martinelli

Anthony is co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of TheJointBlog. He has worked closely with numerous elected officials who support cannabis law reform, including as the former Campaign Manager for King County (WA) Councilmember Dave Upthegrove. He has been published by multiple media outlets, and is a former contributor for Village Voice Media.